VM Podcast S2E5, making better parts with Windform materials

Our guest in the latest episode of the VM Podcast is Franco Cevolini, CEO of CRP Technology. CRP is a very interesting company because it has been active in the AM industry for well over two decades and has built unique expertise in both AM production services and advanced AM powder materials.

Services are offered mainly via polymer PBF technologies, such as SLS and HSS, catering to advanced automotive and aerospace users. Materials are offered under the Windform brand of CFR/GFR composite powders.

In both cases the main target is not just prototyping but small production series, limited editions and preproduction. As Franco Cevolini explains, CRP Technology supplies production series destined for the automotive, avionics and aerospace markets that, together with industrial applications make up the company’s primary customer base.

The green conversion that the automotive sector is experiencing, and towards which the aerospace sector is also heading, requires materials and new transformative technologies. Among other things, Cevolini also revealed that CRP is introducing the new Windform XT 2.0 IMG material, initiating a new industrial production and sustainability era. This is something never before seen in manufacturing: spent SLS powders are recycled into injection molding grade materials (hence the acronym IMG), resulting in full powder re-utilization and also offering a clear indication that the volumes of powder used in the polymer PBF segment are starting to become very significant.

In this sense, additive manufacturing and its composites can make a difference: the right 3D printing technology combined with the right composite allows greater freedom in design, affecting the efficiency of time to market, and enabling companies to achieve better performances. In Aerospace, the future is represented by the increased presence of more and more affordable nanosatellites. Many manufacturers of microsatellites are already using composite materials and 3D printing to build their structures bearing, and the trend is increasing.

All this has enabled CRP Technology to live its best year ever. Listen to the podcast to learn how and what Windform AM materials and CRP Technology AM services can do for your AM business and applications.